Josep Borrell, the High Representative at the European Commission for Foreign Policy and Security Policy, calls for massive investments in Europe's defense industry, and a change of paradigm, after the presidential elections in the USA generated problems with the support of Ukraine in recent months.
Josep Borrell talks below about what Europe must do in the next period to increase its production capacity, both for armaments and ammunition, both of which are necessary to survive the terror that Russia is spreading throughout the continent.
Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine endangers EU security. With war on our doorstep, the United States deeply divided over its continued support for Ukraine, and dangerous tensions rising in the Middle East and many other regions, it is time for Europe to take its security into its own hands to protect its citizens and to discourage. his opponents.
We have already begun to reverse the policy of the "peace dividend"—the approach to reducing defense spending and related industrial production—that has long prevailed since the end of the Cold War. Since 2022, this change in mentality has materialized with the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, the entry of Denmark into European defense cooperation and the decisions of EU member states to invest heavily in defense and to support Ukraine militarily with 28 billion euros since the start of the war and a further €21 billion announced for 2024.
The EU is using instruments such as the European Peace Facility in an innovative way to finance the transfer of arms to Ukraine, and we have just agreed to add €5 billion to this. Facility. We have also mobilized the EU budget in unprecedented ways to support joint procurement and investment in ammunition production.
But we need to do much more, moving from an emergency mode to a structural, long-term approach. We need to produce and invest more in defence, faster and together as Europeans. Building a credible defense union will be a major European project for the next decade.
We are not talking about creating a European army. What we need – and what we want to achieve in the coming years – is closer cooperation between our national militaries and a stronger defense industry in Europe. It will also contribute to building an effective European pillar in NATO. We must build a Europe of defense that allows us to act together with our allies when possible, but also independently when necessary.
In the current geopolitical context, we have no other choice: we must become "defense ready." Not because the EU should wage war, but on the contrary to deter our would-be aggressors with the certainty that our industry will be prepared to support long-term efforts. This is the meaning of the European Defense Industrial Strategy that we presented on 5 March and which will be discussed by EU heads of state and government this week.
European defense and, in particular, Europe's defense industry need a bold leap forward. We must invest more and above all together as Europeans.
My Op Ed with Commissioner @ThierryBreton ahead of this week's EUCO debatehttps://t.co/PsPBap7afD
- Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) March 21, 2024
